Why are Kids so Unmotivated?
The answer is simple. Like many seemingly difficult questions, it eludes most people because of its simplicity.
Why don't most people see it? We tend to look for complexity, because if there was a simple solution we'd have to ask the difficult question:
"Why did we keep doing it the hard way for so long?"
I got confirmation of my views in a session with my Creative Development guide William Whitecloud a few months ago. There's nothing like having your own experience to give real felt insight into a topic!
I was going through a lull in energy towards my business. I love what I do, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. And yet, every time it came to a task in my calendar or a client session, I got a feeling of "I don't really feel like it today". Sure, once I got into it my energy grew, but I was getting sick of having to use my will day after day to get myself to start.
I felt like I was being my own parent, manipulating myself, giving myself rewards and generally doing the things that people do when they're not aligned with their work.
I felt like I should have been able to sort it out myself (after all, I have the knowledge and work with this every day), but there's nothing like an outside pair of ears to shed light on what we're hiding from ourselves.
This is what we uncovered via a simple process:
I was approaching things booked in my calendar like classes I had to attend. Having them "booked in" turned my relationship with my business from "passion" to one of "duty"!
How does this relate to young people's motivation?
I'll answer the question with a question:
How much time does a young person get to do whatever they want, however they want to?
Some educational approaches specify exactly what materials must be used and how. Others prescribe the age at which things need to be learned.
Most schools dictate what an individual does all day, every day - even where they sit and how and for how long, who they talk to and when, what they work on and what questions they should be finding out answers to.
When choice is eliminated, motivation follows.
What we're seeing isn't unmotivated children. What we're seeing is children who have learned that their preferences don't matter.
Think about it:
Would you feel energised about tasks if someone else decided what you do, when you do it, how you do it, and then evaluated whether you did it "correctly"?
This is the daily reality for most young people from ages 5 to 18.
The real issue is learned helplessness masquerading as lack of motivation.
Children arrive naturally curious, with an innate drive to explore and master their world. But when every learning opportunity becomes prescribed and controlled, they stop initiating. They learn to wait for instructions rather than follow their interests.
This isn't a character flaw, but a rational response to an environment that consistently overrides their natural learning instincts.
The solution? Start with choice. Not fake choice between pre-selected options, but genuine autonomy in their learning journey.
When children can pursue what genuinely interests them, using methods that suit their learning style, motivation isn't something we need to manufacture, it naturally emerges.
Structure should not be a limitation. Structure is what allows freedom.
The 7 Seeds of Success™ framework provides just that: a flexible structure that honours the natural sequence of development while giving young people the foundation they need to direct their own learning.
What if we stopped asking "How do we motivate kids?" and started asking "How do we stop demotivating them?"
For more information on the 7 Seeds of Success educational structure, follow the link:
